Zero-K v1.0.4.17 - Mex control and Gunship balance

Today we throw off the shackles of broken metalmap layouts and confusing extractor incomes. No more will otherwise good maps be unplayable and no one can miss the clearly displayed power of super mexes. Mex placement now has a UI, is limited to specific spots and is entirely configurable game side on a per-map basis.

As far as balance goes Gunship roles have been extremified and Tremor has received quite a buff.

Mex Placement

Mex placement is now limited to specific locations on the map.

Interface:

Mex placement snaps to mex spots.

Spot line width and I-Beam count indicates income.

Spot colour indicates whether the spot is under allied control.

Mechanic Changes:

Mex constructor no longer receives 5% extra base income.

Metalmap view cannot be used to increase scout view range.

Mexes now start as soon as they are built (previously there was a 3s delay to gather resource data).

Compatibility:

Cloud metal maps with large extractor radius are not supported. Examples are Bazillion Battlefield and Castles.

Those with small extractor radius still work. For example Duck and Speedmetal.

Game-side configs can be added to completely replace a metalmap. This can be used to fix the few liked cloud metalmaps and to fix maps that look good but have broken metalmaps.

Widgets:

Area Mex, Mex Snap and Prospector have been removed and partially merged into a single widget.

If you disable this widget you're stuffed.

Ready behaviour change

Start location can now be chosen at any time and there is no ready button. The game with start 4s after every player has chosen a start location.

Balance

Tremor:

AOE increased 11%

DPS increased 23%

Impacts smooths terrain.

Weapononised terrain smoothing is reduced for mid air explosions (as in when projectiles impact a shield high above the ground).

Seismic missile can shoot underwater.

Brawler. It should emphasise range and not being hit by most land units.

Speed 4.7 -> 4

Uses more of it's range while strafing.

Blackdawn. Should be hit and run with ground interaction.

Speed 4.65 -> 4.5

Health 2900 -> 3400

Cruise Altitude 210 -> 150 (to compare Banshee is at 100)

Range 450 -> 300

Rapier. If it is going to defend other gunships it needs to be able to keep upwith them and deal reasonable damage.

Speed 3.8 -> 4

Health 1300 -> 1100

Damage 150 -> 200 (1 shot better vs Vamp)

Range 300 -> 340

Banshee. This just needs to be a bit better.

DPS increased 5%

Range increased by 20

Gnat. Needs to be less extreme "completely win or die".

Health 90 -> 120 (This is over the Defender boundary, am I mad????)

Range increased by 20

Strider Hub:

Costs 550 -> 600m (for consistency)

Bantha:

Added laser overcharge special weapon.

GUI

Structures in the build menu are ordered by cost.

Geo hightlight activates when build geo is selected. Geos are now drawn on the minimap with a big X.

does this mean you always have to place the mex in the center of the metal spot? or can i still save walking time by putting the metalspot on the edge of the extraction radius (dont have a comp that can runs spring here atm).

also, why hp buff for BD? Even with slower speed, shouldn't we let it play-out without hp buff first?

but anyway, thanks again for the next update, the game just gets better and better!

The concept of metal patches and extractor radius has been removed. There are just specific spots on the map that mexes can be placed to give income. Mexes cannot be placed anywhere else.

Many balance changes tweak the unit but keep it in it's role. The gunship changes aren't exactly like that. Instead they try to tweak the roles to create a more differentiated set of units. So they look a bit more extreme and may not be balanced.

When you see a broken map just fix it, I have only seen 4 so far and only 2 of them were seriously broken. It only affects some maps with strange values that let you partially overlap metal spots or maps with weird metal shapes.

If there is a spot with 0.1m/s or less just delete it.You can make 0.2m/s with any con - or not?

How about spawning reclaimable things at metal spots which are auto-reclaimed by extractors or any con?Overdriven extractors multiply the reclaimed metal or start generating metal by their own.Because you can't place mexes everywhere, this would not be like BA-makers.If an enemy dies next to an extractor, the extractor reclaims it.It would be nice if we could transport wreckages to extractors and get more out of it (like 100% of unit cost).

1) having selected a constructor unit or commander (a unit which CAN build this structure)2)moving mouse over build-spot, current build-mode for mex/geo is automatically selected. 3)right-click-to-build structure directly at this location, which is faster and more user-friendly. (replacing a "move" command to the mex/geo spot)

+0 / -0

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